LONDON – Steeplechase world champion Norah Jeruto has been provisionally suspended for an anti-doping violation, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday.

Jeruto, formerly a Kenyan who switched allegiance to Kazakhstan, won the 3,000 metres steeplechase gold at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Her time of 8min 53.02sec, the third-fastest ever, was a championship record.

The AIU said on Twitter that she had been suspended “for the use of a prohibited substance/method (ABP)“.

ABP refers to the Athlete Biological Passport, which shows discrepancies that can reveal the effects of doping.

The AIU said a notice of the charge has been issued to the 27-year-old distance runner, who also won the Diamond League gold in the same event in 2021.

Jeruto missed the postponed Tokyo Olympics as she sat out her change of allegiance period.

Her native Kenya has been embroiled in doping scandals in recent months.

The AIU said earlier this week that Kenyan athletes are being assisted in covering up doping by a “medically-savvy operation”.

Meanwhile, Camilo Santiago and Honduras’ Ivan Zarco Alvarez have been suspended for six months after the Spanish runner wore his rival’s bib at the Itelligence Citylauf Invitational Marathon 2021 in Dresden, Germany, the AIU said on Friday.

Alvarez suggested Santiago use his bib, which has an athlete’s identification number printed on it, during the race as the Honduran had to miss the event since he was suffering from heel pain.

Alvarez later contacted World Athletics to request that the marathon result be attributed to Santiago.

“The fact that Mr Zarco and Mr Santiago exchanged bib numbers and were caught in a public forum demonstrates that their conduct was unreasonable and brought the sport into disrepute,” the AIU said in a statement.

“The bib swap was an intentional agreement to alter Mr Zarco’s results in the marathon... particularly in circumstances where Mr Zarco must have known that the result in question would have been a Honduran national record,” they added.

The incident, which became public after the Spanish website Soy Corredor published an article about the change in March 2021, prompted Santiago to tweet an apology, pointing out that he meant no harm.

Both then testified at the IUA investigation that Santiago’s bag (containing his race bib number) disappeared just before the race and that they explained to the organisers that Santiago would run with Alvarez’s bib.

However, the marathon organisers said there were facilities for printing bibs at the starting point and that “no official would have indicated that an athlete could exchange bibs”.

The athletes’ early admission and their low level of international competition resulted in them benefiting from a shorter suspension period of six months.

They would have been sanctioned for one year had the AIU requested a hearing before a disciplinary tribunal. REUTERS, AFP